1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to surface modification, and more particularly to a method of non-adhesive coating of a polymer based surface with particles.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is generally known in the prior art to modify surfaces of articles of plastic and other materials by immobilizing particles thereto, such as for increasing the wear resistance, for texturing purposes, for coating paper, for preparing photographic materials, for preparing analytical test systems, etc. The coating procedures used are, however, often complicated and in most cases involve the use of a binder which may have an adverse effect on the particles depending on the intended purpose of the coated product.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,451 discloses a test sheet comprising a plastic film support having adhered to one surface thereof a layer of reagent-containing particles and reagent-free hydrophilic particles. The test sheet is prepared by applying the particles in dry form to the support which has prior thereto been sprayed with an adhesive.
EP-A-420 053 discloses an analytical test system comprising a flat porous sheet material with a protein non-absorptive polyurethane polymeric coating supporting particles coated by a bioaffinity agent. The particles are entrapped in the surface structure of the support material by applying a small amount of a buffer suspension of the bioactive agent-coated particles to the treated support followed by drying. More permanent attachment of the particles to the support may be achieved by covalently binding the antibody or other agent coated on the particles to the polymer-coated support by means of a cross-linking agent.
Maskos U. and Southern E. M., Nucl. Acids Res. 7 (1992) 1679-1684, discloses the fusion of ballotini glass beads to plastic sticks by dipping the sticks in molten polypropylene and then bringing them into contact with a pile of derivatized glass beads. The fused beads were then used as supports for oligonucleotides in nucleic acid hybridization.